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Hi. I purchased my 01 540i with 107k in January, BMW did the pre-purchase inspection, but that issue was not found. I called a couple of shops for prices and it's not cheap. Also my valve cover gaskets are leaking. I'd like to tackle this myself but not sure if I can complete the job.
With the valley pan and the valve cover gaskets, I'm looking at a $2000 plus job. What are your suggestions, do only the pan valley gasket at an independent and the valve gaskets myself, or just get the whole thing done.

It's a common problem with the 4.4 and 4.0 V8's. It's just a PITA to get to, you need to remove the intake manifold which is why it takes so long and costs so much. If you have a good knowledge of cars then you could do it.

I did my valley pan, intake gaskets and CCV/OSV a few weeks ago but I knew about the valley pan leak more than a year before. Since the BMW dealer didn't find the leak during the inspection you shouldn't have to panic, the valley pan leaks are usually quite slow even in the summer months. If you're going to do it yourself, you can take some time to buy all the parts and read all the different instructions on doing the valley pan repair.

I used these instructions, although they are for the earlier E39 with the ICV they are the most comprehensive and you will not have to cut and splice any wires or use 2x4s but a few bungie cords are quite helpful.http://members.cox.net/rlacm/IntakeIndex.htm

If you have any questions please ask away I will be happy to answer them.

BTW: The job only requires basic tools but take your time and do things correctly and everything will work out. The instructions says that the job is doable in 6 hours but there is alot of bending and stretching involved so I choose to be nice to my back and I do a bit at a time, it took me a week to do but in the end my back was fine.

Thanks for all the help. Will wait a bit more before I make a decision to address the problem. One thing is, not to stress about it. On a side note, what oil grade and make is everyone running in their cars. I went with Lubro Moly 5w-40 Synthoil, thinking of changing to Castrol 0w-30.

I bought all the parts that was listed in the instructions that I posted above. Last October I paid $310.00 USD plus shipping from Tischer BMW in Maryland. Parts order was for valley pan and cover, assorted o-rings for cooling pipes and oil breather system, intake gaskets and CCV/OSV. I consider this price a great deal, remember that all parts are original BMW.

While I'm thinking of what I did, here are some additional things that may be of interest:I replaced the seven torx bolts for the CCV/OSV with seven metric M6x1x25 bolts and lock washers so that I can easily remove and replace the CCV/OSV in the future with only a gear wrench instead of struggling with the torx bolts.

If you haven't replaced your cam position sensors lately be prepared to have the plastic insulation covering on the wires crumble in your hands if the sensor is old. My sensor(s) wasn't giving any problems before so I just repaired the insulation covering by removing all the brittle plastic, untwisted the wires then coated the exposed wires with RTV, several thin coats were done to make sure I got all the exposed surfaces.

Oh Sh!t, I forgot someone mentioned that Tischer BMW no longer ships to Canada... any how you could have the parts sent to Can-Am Mailbox Rentals in Niagra Falls then make a trip to pick them up. I do this all the time for P-car parts, even paying for gas and taxes on the parts at the border, it still works out alot cheaper in the long run, that's how I've been able to keep up with the cost of maintenance on my cars.

MLue 1 can you give me the details of how to go about setting up a mailbox?

David, the place is called Can-Am Mailbox Rentals but you're NOT actually setting up or renting a mailbox... just shipping the packages to the address (~$5/package) using any of the US based carriers, so Canada post does go there. TIP: This really works well if you utilize the free shipping within the US offered by some of the Parts Houses like Pelican Parts. Here is a link to some info I posted in another thread:

There are guys shipping transmissions and half of a car to Can-Am Mailbox. The work on my cars is mostly caught up so I don't go as often any more; if you use them do me a favour and give a Hello to Bob Seager from Mark Lue.

With all the online maps and GPSs out there someone just pinged me asking the Direction, so I'll post it here: Cross the border at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagra Falls, go a few blocks and make a left at 3rd Street, follow 3rd Street until it changes into Whirlpool Street, continue on Whirlpool Street until you see the Can-am Mailbox building on the right (looks like a white house). Ya...it's within a couple hundred yards of the Whirlpool Bridge but sadly you have to have a Nexus pass to be able to use that bridge.